3-Iron review

 Number 229 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Korean/Japanese romantic drama '3-Iron.'

Tae-Suk (Jae-Hee) is a lonely drifter who spends his days breaking into people's homes when they're away, eating their food, washing their clothes, fixing their appliances and sleeping in their beds. One day he breaks into the home of Sun-hwa (Lee Seung-Yeon) - a house wife who is being abused by her husband Min-Gyu (Kwon Hyuk-ho.) After Tae-Suk witnesses this abuse in secret, he proceeds to buffet Min-Gyu with golf balls before leaving with his wife who soon joins him on his escapades.

In 3-Iron, I've seen one of the strangest, most intriguing yet subtly powerful films about human connection and communication. What makes the theme of communication even stranger is how there is so little verbal communication between Tae-Suk and Sun-hwa. Despite having minimal dialogue, the two soon start to fall in love. This use of silence was completely intentional by director Kim Ki-duk who wanted the audience to focus on the relationship of the characters without being distracted by dialogue. There is so much more in what we don't say rather than what we do. Ki-Duk captures this idea perfectly. 

It's a great concept. So much of human communication is more than the words we speak. There is our body language, our facial expressions - all those little sub-communications that nobody ever thinks about, but make up so much of how we convey meaning to one another.

However, I wonder if Ki-Duk could have pushed this idea even further. The film is only short at eighty-eight minutes. That's not even an hour-and-a-half. Its short runtime meant that some of the plot-points were rushed and contrived so they could fit in the big thematic ideas within ninety minutes. Let's take the first meeting of Tae-Suk and Sun-Hwa. Tae-Suk breaks into Sun-Hwa's home not realising that she is there too. He starts washing her clothes and fixing her bathroom scale. Meanwhile, she has spotted him there and, rather than confronting him or running and screaming for help, she watches him curiously.

After Tae-Suk beats Min-Gyu, Sun-Hwa leaves with him, no questions asked. Obviously she has to go with him for the plot to work, but it all happened too easily. I am no expert, but in many abusive relationships there is an element of Stockholm Syndrome. Despite being horrifically abused, the abusee still deeply loves their abuser. I thought Sun-Hwa would express distress at her husband being attacked or maybe she would try to stop Tae-Suk. At the very least, I thought she would be hesitant about leaving him, but that wasn't the case at all.

There are other plot points that were completely skipped over. When playing golf on a street corner, Tae-Suk inadvertently hits the golf ball into the head of a random passer-by. We see one shot of him wracked with guilt and then it's quickly onto the next plot point. Tae-Suk and Sun-Hwa are caught in the bed of one of the homeowners they've invaded. What happens next? Nothing negative, as we're rushing along. These could have been great moments of conflict and tension, but they weren't explored properly.

I did enjoy 3-Iron. It was intriguing and very creative, but it definitely needed longer than ninety minutes to explore its big thematic ideas.

The Iron Giant review

 Number 388 on the top 1000 films of all time is Brad Bird's 1997 animated adventure: the Iron Giant.

Set in 1950's America, 9-year-old Hogarth (Eli Marienthal) befriends an alien that resembles a giant metal robot, voiced by Vin Diesel. However, the robot is being hunted down by paranoid government agent Kent Mansley (Christopher Mcdonald.) With the help of beatnik artist Dean McCoppin (Harry Connick Jr,) Hogarth must protect the Iron Giant from falling into the clutches of the government. Jennifer Anniston also stars as Hogarth's mum.

This film couldn't be a better allegory of Cold War paranoia if it tried. The iron giant was the communist running away from the Mcarthy-esque Kent. The Red Scare was little more than a witch hunt and the feelings of distrust easily spilled over into this film. The humans hunt down the iron giant because they don't understand him and because they're afraid of him. You can argue it's not the most original or complex of concepts, but it is certainly a powerful one.

 And that was down to the animation and Vin Diesel's voice performance. As the Iron Giant looks like a robot, it is easy to forget that he is a sentient being. The animators did well to convey every ounce of hurt and anger that he felt especially during the ending when he fights his true nature. And, even though, Vin Diesel has a reputation for playing action heroes, he is entirely capable of playing softer, more sensitive characters. When the Iron Giant asks Hogarth about death, Hogarth explains it is when the body dies, but the soul lives on. And a soul is exactly what Diesel gave to the Iron Giant.

Although I did think that at nine-years-old, Hogarth was a little too young to be a hero. Sure, at that age, you'll be more trusting then you be as an adult, and, of course, this is a cartoon, but I think it would have been better if he were a few years older.

But I did enjoy the film's dissection of American culture. At the film's conclusion, the Iron Giant goes on a rampage, causing the army to fire everything at him: guns, tanks, fighter jets and even a nuclear missile. I would argue it's just typical of Americans to shoot at something they don't understand.

Critics and audiences lauded this film, but due to a lacklustre marketing campaign by Warner Bros, it severely underperformed at the box office. Warner didn't see the value in animation films at the time. Considering how popular the film has become, I bet they're sorely regretting that decision now.